Hollywood (1942)

■ At this very moment there are thousands of girls who wish they were in the boots of Joan Leslie. How wonderful to be a star at seventeen! Just think of the boy friends, the good times, the rush, the glamour, the whoopdedo! By all the laws of nature and Hollywood, that's the way it should be. Young, new faces in the movie village cut a giddy swathe. At seventeen, Lana Turner was whooping it up high, wide and handsome; Judy Garland got around to some of the gayest places, and even little Jane Withers stepped into an evening gown as soon as she outgrew her socks. But not Joan Leslie. Joan may be a Cinderella in her sudden leap to fame and stardom, but she's a dateless one. Saturday nights you'll find this glamour girl having a wild time chewing a chocolate bar at a local movie house with her parents. Other nights she goes to bed at the ripsnortin' hour of ten. She went out with boys only twice this past year, and those two dates were about as exciting as a bowl of cereal and milk. The brother of a girl friend took her to a school dance; and Harry Lewis, a young actor at Warners, took her to the annual studio party, properly chaperoned by Joan's dramatic teacher. There you have the full extent of her social life. If you're wondering how come a girl as young and lovely as Joan Leslie doesn't go out, you're not the only one. Hollywood can't make her out either, and the long line of boys who have been turned down by Joan are nonplussed. But to Joan her dateless state is neither mysterious nor crazy. "I'm not interested in going out with boys yet. Now that may sound strange, because I know it's normal for girls my age to want to have boy friends. But my situation is a little different from that of the average seventeen-year-old. I'm just getting started on a career that is very exciting and takes most of my time and interest. It means a great deal to me to make good, and I feel that I would rather be doing something connected with my work than going out. "Look." she said earnestly, "I've been in one picture after another this past year and I've been working hard. For Yankee Doodle Dandy I had to sing and dance besides act, and that took many hours of long, tedious rehearsals. That's just one picture. In the others, I put in a long, hard day, and when I come home I'm tired. The next day there is more work before the cameras. I want to compose myself, go to bed early so that I will feel fresh the Cli licit* rollci II v l.l.oiill HUE-NT , next morning. I have been playing opposite some of the finest actors on the screen and that means I must work particularly hard so that my performance doesn't look unfinished in contrast to theirs. That is why relaxation and study are more important to me than dates. "Not that I want any sympathy. I love to work in the studios all day and come home and practice some more. That's the point. I would rather do that than go through the strain of going out on dates, worrying about my appearance, trying to make conversation and wondering what impression I'm making on the boy. "This doesn't mean that I'm a hermit," Joan continued. "The other day someone told me that if I didn't go out when I was young, I would deprive myself of the experience of knowing people and understanding human nature, that some day I'd want to get married and wouldn't recognize the right man when he came along if I secluded myself. How wrong she was; for I am with people all the time in my work — the most interesting people any young girl can meet. I've learned so much from Jimmy Cagney, Gary Cooper, Ida Lupino and others with whom I've worked and come to know, that when I do start going out I won't be a wide-eyed little Alice in Wonderland who has escaped contact with the world. "Most seventeen-year-old girls want to be popular, but that desire usually develops when she is part of a clique in school. I don't go to a regular high school — there's a private teacher on the set for me — so I'm a stranger to school rushes and dances that make a girl my age date-conscious. "It's just as well for me that I don't care about going out, because with whom would I go out? I haven't worked in a picture with players my own age. The men with whom I've worked, like Mr. Cagney, Humphrey Bogart and Dennis Morgan are usually married and are way out of my age class. As for the non-professional boys — they don't have much of a picnic taking out an actress. A boy would rather be with a girl with whom he can be natural than with someone he thinks he has to impress. "Besides, it puts the girl on the spot too. If you overdress, you've gone Hollywood. If you dress too simply, then you're not doing so well. If you're exuberant at a party, then you're showing off; and if you stay quietly in a corner, you're pulling a Garbo. "A few months ago I went to the Warner Brothers' annual party with Harry Lewis, an actor on the lot. It was a very nice affair and I did have a good time, but it wasn't such a thrilling experience, after all. "I have good times at home, so I really don't have to look for outside diversions. My sisters, Betty and Mary, and I are very close and we have fun when we're together. Neither one of them went out before she was eighteen or nineteen, and they say they've had their fill of good times and never lacked beaux when they wanted them. I'm not a man-hater by any means! But I am having my share of fun and excitement without going out with boys. Most girls go out to have a good time. I have a good time without dates, so why change?" ■ HOLLYWOOD Seventeen, lovely to look at and dateless is Joan Leslie. This Cinderella girl is too busy with her career and studies for the boys. Below: when she steps out it's usually with Mother. She's in Warners' The Hard War